SINCE 1828
social climber
nounDefinition of social climber
: one who attempts to gain a higher social position or acceptance in fashionable society
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Examples of social climber in a Sentence
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And with three skilled actresses at the film’s center, characters that could so easily be reduced to familiar stereotypes — the crazy one, the conniving one, the social climber — are instead imbued with humanity. — Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, "The Favourite is a deliciously wicked tale of sex, women, and power plays," 21 Nov. 2018 Blame the social climbers on the board of Ruthie’s museum. — Joanne Kaufman, WSJ, "Summer Books: Beach Reading," 23 May 2018 As Weisberg point out, it was written by Lord Chesterfield, a scheming social climber who never intended for his correspondences with his son Philip to be published. — Jackie Mansky, Smithsonian, "What Makes the Advice Column Uniquely American," 19 Apr. 2018 From a very young age, Florence—social climber, businesswoman, grande horizontale, patron of the arts—perfected the art of filling the hours of her lovers. — Caroline Moorehead, WSJ, "‘A Dangerous Woman’ Review: Opportunism Knocks," 2 Mar. 2018 Back when people still read books instead of binge-watching Netflix, Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth was a cautionary tale for the aspiring social climber. — Marshall Heyman, Town & Country, "Is Friend-Digging the New Gold-Digging?," 17 Jan. 2018 The novel once again featured socialites, social climbers and high society’s help in the cast. — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Murder on the Orient Express' Sequel in the Works (Exclusive)," 20 Nov. 2017 Our research shows that from a psychological standpoint, social climbers fall into six basic personality types. — Dirk Wittenborn And Jazz Johnson, Town & Country, "Which Type of Social Climber Are You?," 10 Oct. 2014 His first wife, Ivana Trump, was similarly wary of social climbers and spies, and discouraged young Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric from hosting playdates at their lavish Trump Tower home. — Tierney Mcafee, PEOPLE.com, "Ivana Trump Reveals Her Kids’ Playdates with Michael Jackson at Trump Tower: ‘There’s No Way He Could Have Hurt Anyone’," 10 Oct. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'social climber.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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